April 7 Invasion Attack
Recommended:
– IWGP Jr. Tag: Alex Shelley & Kushida (c) vs. Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi, WON: ****
– Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata, WON: ***¾
– IWGP Heavyweight: Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (c), WON: *****
Extra Credit:
– Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma, WON: ****¼
– Minoru Suzuki vs. Toru Yano, WON: ***½
– Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr., WON: ****¼
April’s Invasion Attack PPV opened with Apollo 55 challenging the Time Splitters for the Jr tag belts. Devitt beat Shelley one-on-one to retain the IWGP Jr title two days earlier. Now Devitt wanted to win the tag belts as well. Devitt and Taguchi attacked the Time Splitters before the match even started, and the ref rang the bell to start the match after Kushida recovered and dove to the outside. This was a very fast-paced match, with lots of big moves from both teams. Taguchi looked like he was in control at the end of the match, but Kushia rolled him up for the pin at 10:42. Taguichi was shocked and pleaded with the ref while Devitt stewed in the corner. Taguchi tried to talk to Devitt, but Devitt shoved Taguchi and yelled at him about losing the match. Shelley and Kushida came over and tried to make peace. Taguchi shook hands with Devitt, but Devitt gave him a lariat to the back of the head when he turned his back. Devitt screamed at Kushida and Shelley and taunted them with the finger-guns. Bad Luck Fale hit the ring and laid Taguchi out for a top rope double stomp from Devitt. They laid out Captain New Japan and Devitt stole his mask. Devitt took the mic to say, “No more Apollo 55, no more Mr. Nice Guy,” and he rode out of the arena on Fale’s shoulders with Captain New Japan’s mask on his face.
It’s hard to overstate how surprising this must have been. Devitt and Taguchi had been teaming for literally four years. Devitt was a huge crowd favorite, and was getting cheered opposite IWGP Heavyweight champ Tanahashi just a few weeks ago. Stay tuned, this turn is the first chapter in the history of the Bullet Club!
The shooters Sakuraba and Shibata returned in tag action against Yuji Nagata and Hirooki Goto. Both of these matchups had a historical angle to them. Shibata and Goto were high school classmates, and had already been building a feud in 2013. Nagata and Sakuraba first met each other in the ring as part of the UWFi vs. New Japan feud in 1995. The crowd was very hot from the start of this match and stayed onboard throughout. Goto and Shibata paired off first and pummeled each other with strikes. Sakuraba vs Nagata took a turn and did more matwork. Nagata really stood up to Sakaraba and showed a confidence beyond any of Sakuraba’s opponents so far. Nagata landed big suplexes on both opponents. Goto and Shibata did a long figure four spot where they slapped each other from the mat. Nagata hit a high German suplex on Sakuraba, and then went back to working submissions. Nagata threw Sakuraba for another suplex and Sakuraba landed and his arm and dislocated his elbow. The ref saw it immediately and called for the bell at 11:32. Shibata faced off with Goto and Nagata after the match and slapped them both. Nagata shook hands and hooked pinkies with Sakurara in the ring once he was back to his feet.
It’s unfortunate that this injury abruptly ended another fantastic match. Goto and Shibata continued their feud in May, but it would be a few months before Nagata and Sakuraba would get their one-on-one match.
Okada and Tanahashi met in the main event since Okada’s New Japan Cup win earned him a challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. This was the first time the two fought one-on-one since January’s Wrestle Kingdom. Tanahashi was victorious in the last two matches. The crowd was split 50/50 for both wrestlers at the beginning of the match. Early on, Tanahashi tried to give Okada a rainmaker and did the pose to boos from the crowd. Tanahashi refused to break a hold in the ropes, getting some more heat from the fans. Tanahashi spent much of the match demolishing Okada’s arm in order to weaken the rainmaker. It really made Tanahashi look like a bully. Okada sold the arm a lot, and couldn’t even do his rainmaker pose. Okada finally hit a rainmaker but his arm hurt so badly from doing the move that he was curled up on the mat in pain and couldn’t cover. He eventually made a weak cover, but Tanahashi kicked out! The crowd was going nuts for this part. Okada got Tanahashi in a stepover toehold camel clutch and held him in a tough spot for a long time. Ref “Red Shoes” was great at adding to the drama here, holding his ear up to Tanahashi’s mouth. Tanahashi hit a series of big moves after escaping, but couldn’t get the pin. He went for his third high fly flow but Okada got his knees up to counter. The two battled to deliver a piledriver, and Okada finally hit the tombstone and the rainmaker to win back the title at 31:41. After the match, Gedo called out Suzuki-gun and Suzuki came out to the ring. Okada did the rainmaker pose in Suzuki’s face, and Suzuki responded by slapping Okada and choking out Gedo.
This match built great, and this was their best meeting so far! The last 10 minutes were non-stop drama. I love how nonchalant and unimpressed Okada’s face and body language look during his matches. Whenever he gets downtime, he rests on the ropes or the mat. After a two count, he doesn’t show any emotion. It’s funny how doing less really develops his character. After the match, Okada made hilarious photo poses with the fans who were part of the championship presentation.
May 3 Wrestling Dontaku
Recommended:
– Ryusuke Taguchi & Captain New Japan vs. Prince Devitt & Bad Luck Fale, WON: *¼
– Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata, WON: ***¼
– Hiroshi Tanahashi pinned Karl Anderson, WON: ***¾
– IWGP Heavyweight: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki, WON: ***¾
Extra Credit:
– Masato Tanaka vs. Tomoaki Honma, WON: ***¼
– Shinsuke Nakamura pinned Shelton Benjamin, WON: ***½
Bad Luck Fale
Image: ゾーヒョー, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Simi Fale is a Tongan New Zealander whose professional rugby career took him to Japan. After his rugby career ended, Fale started training as a pro wrestler and joined New Japan as King Fale in 2009. After a few years in the undercard, New Japan sent Fale to wrestle in the U.S. indies for a year-long excursion. Fale returned to New Japan from the U.S. to debut as Bad Luck Fale, Prince Devitt’s bouncer.
Fale is billed at 6’4” and over 300 lbs. His signature move is the grenade, a chokeslam accompanied by a thumb spike to the throat.
May’s Wrestling Dontaku show featured a well-rounded card, but no blow-away matches. Prince Devitt and his “bouncer” Bad Luck Fale took on Taguchi and Captain New Japan early in the card. Devitt rode out to his new entrance music on Fale’s shoulders, and wore a light up RNR jacket (for the “Real Rocknrolla”). This match wasn’t great, but it was the first chance to see Devitt as a full-blown heel. Devitt and Taguchi worked against each other for part of the match, but it only provided a tease for their feud.
Shibata and Goto met one-on-one for the first time. The two took a pretty measured pace to start, in contrast to the fiery pace of some recent Shibata and Sakuraba tag matches. They teased a double knockout at about 9 minutes with the idea that both wrestlers were punishing each other so much that they hit a wall of exhaustion. (A countout outside the ring is 20 in Japan, but a countout to get to your feet is just 10.) The two went toe-to-toe with strikes and then some sickening headbutts. After a few more strikes from their knees, both wrestlers fell face-first on the mat and got counted out for a double knockout at 11:39. Don’t worry, they will meet again soon.
Tanahashi met Karl Anderson in a rematch of their excellent bout from February. Karl Anderson came to the ring with Tama Tonga. Anderson was mocking Tanahashi throughout the match. Late in the match, Anderson hit an F5 on Tanahashi from the second rope. Tanahashi kept blocking the stun gun all match long, using a different technique each time. At the end of the match, he blocked it four times in a row in a cool sequence. Tanahashi then won with the slingblade and high fly flow at 12:52. Tanahashi was helping Anderson up with a handshake after the match when Devitt and Bad Luck Fale attacked Tanahashi. Anderson asked them what the hell they were doing, and Devitt asked Anderson and Tonga to join him. After some hesitation, Anderson made finger guns and gave Tanahashi that gun stun he avoided all match. The four posed over Tanahashi and did the too sweet hand gesture together.
Okada defended his new title against Suzuki in the main event. Gedo was with Okada, and Taichi joined Suzuki. Taichi could walk fine, but he was still carrying his crutch as a weapon! There was a big staredown to start, and Gedo threw Taichi out of the ring. The crowd was pretty quiet for much of this match, and it hurt the atmosphere. Okada showed some rare fire in a battle of forearm strikes with Suzuki in the middle of the match. There were many more submissions, though, and they didn’t hold the crowd’s attention. Suzuki held a sleeper forever late in the match. When he finally released it, Okada could barely stand and Suzuki rocked him with a long series of slaps. Okada and Suzuki battled over piledriver attempts. Okada hit a tombstone first, and then hit a hybrid Gotch-style tombstone. Okada hit the rainmaker for the pin at 30:49. Togi Makabe came out afterward to challenge Okada for the next title match.